The Informer

Trump or Chump?

Now that the New Jersey Gaming Commission has revoked the auditing license of
Arthur Andersen LLP
, the New Jersey Attorney General's office plans to do a "thorough review" of the firm's Atlantic City casino clients. This cannot be good news for Forbes 400 member
Donald J. Trump
, whose three properties--Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Plaza and Trump Marina--face huge debt, restless bondholders and tremendous capital-improvement needs. But The Donald says he can withstand such regulatory scrutiny. Thanks to stronger cash flow recently, the properties are "doing great," he insists.
--Brett Pulley

Radical Concept: Fair Play

The Financial Services Forum--21 Wall Street heavyweights led by
Morgan Stanley's
Phillip J. Purcell
--is preparing a joint statement calling for corporate executives to hand back their profits from insider selling if their companies go bankrupt within one year. A prime example: much of the $740 million that
Gary Winnick
pulled out of
Global Crossing
before it cratered. Other bosses agreeing on a draft: Sanford Weill of Citigroup, William Harrison of J.P. Morgan Chase, David H. Komansky of Merrill Lynch and Arthur F. Ryan of Prudential.
--Robert Lenzner

A Bad Heir Day

U.S. Tax Court Judge
Julian I. Jacobs
has ruled for a second time that the 49% stake in high-end hair product company
John Paul Mitchell Systems
, owned by famed stylist Paul Mitchell, was at his 1989 death worth $41.5 million, 46% more than the heirs say. Since another founder,
John Paul DeJoria
, owned 50%, a federal appeals court had said it was wrong for Jacobs to view the Mitchell stake as a controlling interest and reduce the estate-value discounts for minority interest and lack of marketability. The ability of Jacobs to reach the same conclusion on slightly different grounds makes another appeal highly likely.
--Ashlea Ebeling

Especially in choppy times, total losses attributable to a specific mutual fund manager-often overseeing several funds and multiple share classes-can add up. Over the past two years these 16 managers collectively dropped an estimated $270 billion. -W.P.B.